Poll

POS Broadly Welcomes Proposals to Change Threshold for Assessing Need for EIA on Large Housing Schemes

Date: 15/1/2015

Mike Kiely, Chair of the POS Board, has "broadly welcomed" the proposals to change the threshold for assessing whether large housing schemes require an EIA.

He told a Planning magazine reporter that the inclusion of the 150-unit threshold means that screening levels are unlikely to be reduced by 80 per cent, although he stopped short of providing an alternative estimate.

Kiely added "It will affect non-high-density urban areas where housing developments are extensive, around two or three hectares, and not above 150 units. These will be taken out of the system. But high-density urban developments will still need a screening opinion despite the changes."